Due to unstable political climates of many of the world's petroleum producing nations, it has become apparent that a consistent production of petroleum cannot be relied upon. Further, it has also become increasingly apparent that the earth has only a finite supply of petroleum, estimates indicating that the supply will become exhausted early in the twenty first century. Nuclear energy is experiencing ever increasing public opposition, and generation of electricity from coal has been linked to acid rain. Therefore, it has become necessary to develop alternate systems for producing electricity.
The sun generates a relatively infinite amount of solar energy which is constantly directed towards the earth. The problem to date in harnessing the solar energy has been an inability to convert significant amount of the solar energy to usable electrical energy at a competitive price. Of course, the wind also provides a previously unharnessed source of wind energy which has been recognized as potentially beneficial.